A Bad Day With Wilbur Robinson
by DarkMidnightStars
Summary: Wilbur is having enough problems when the time machine is stolen. With the help of the other time machine and 12 yr old Lewis from the past he has to fix the timestream before he disappears forever. Prologue, epilogue, and movie plot in Wilbur's POV.
1. Prologue

The light was slinking into my closed eyes, making it harder to appreciate the dream. I opened them for a split second as a reflex and by the time I shut them again, the dream was gone. I squeezed them shut, trying frantically to get it back, but it was impossible. Only lonely, random thoughts meandered through my mind. I sighed, and opened my eyes resignedly. I sat up, tangled in my bedcovers, and stretched leisurely. I found it kind of strange that I was snarled in my blankets, because I distinctly remembered falling asleep on top of them because I was feeling quite warm when I went to bed. I shrugged it off as my mom or Carl, and hopped out of bed. I crossed my room to the door, absently remembering that today was Saturday. My dad was on a business trip and he wouldn't be back until Monday morning. I was momentarily saddened by this thought, but instantly felt lifted when I remember his promise to spend time together once he returned.

I walked softly into the kitchen, where Grandma Lucille and Carl were making breakfast.

"Hello, dear," my grandma trilled happily as she cracked some eggs into a bowl. "How are you this morning?"

"Fine, Grandma," I answered. "What's for breakfast?"

Carl caught twenty pieces of toast as they popped out of the giant toaster. "Oh, just an ordinary toast, eggs and bacon affair." He grinned at me.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Ordinary, in this house? Please, Carl." I joked.

He chuckled. "Just call everyone in, will ya?"

"Will do." I pressed the button on the intercom. "Calling all Robinsons, calling all Robinsons, please make your way into the dining room in an orderly fashion. Do not panic, there is enough bacon for everyone."

Carl looked at me humouredly. "Ok, come on Mr. Smart Alec."

"The name's Wilbur, not Alec." I followed him through the double doors.

I sat in between Laszlo and Uncle Art to eat.

"Does anyone was to hear Frankie's new song? He and Herbert have a wonderful duet in it." asked my mom, smearing her toast in honey.

Everyone nodded in agreement. My mom could be so obsessive with those frogs sometimes, but at least she always had time for me (and often a little too much time) unlike my dad who at times, just couldn't come see the snow fort I made, or didn't have time to play games. I shook these thoughts out of my head.

"Whoa, watch it, you could poke an eye out with that hair!" teased Tallulah, who was sitting across from me and had seen me shaking my head.

I scowled at her as everyone laughed along with her. I faked a chuckle as I sneakily loaded up my fork.

"Hey Tallulah?"

"Yeah?" She looked up.

I flung the scrambled eggs on the end of my fork at her. They landed beautifully, coating her hair, her dress, and her hat.

Everyone grew silent as she glared at me. Her eyes shot upwards and a hand rose to her hat. Then she gave me a death glare. All of a sudden her face relaxed, and she resumed devouring her bacon. I glanced around at everybody, and their expressions matched my own, giving me questioning looks. I shrugged, and finished my last bite of toast. I sipped my kumquat juice and waited until everyone was done. My mom thought it was more polite that way. I had never left the table until the whole family had finished before.

As everyone left to do what they pleased I ran upstairs to get dressed. I put on a pair of jeans, but had to slide on a belt as well because they were a tiny bit too loose around my waist. After rifting through my dresser, I found my favourite shirt. It had been my favourite for a few years now, but, despite my growth spurt, my dad and Tallulah had managed to find a way to make it fit me still. I will admit it was sort of dorky, with the lightning bolt symbol and stuff but I knew that I made it look cool. After slipping on my favourite sneakers, I was out the door. I wandered around the house for a while, not really sure what to do with myself, and realized I wasn't feeling like the energetic, can't-stay-still kind of guy I am. I needed some help. I needed to talk.

I needed Carl.

Carl stands for Constructive Artificial Robotic Life. Carl is pretty much my big brother, best friend, and ultimate confidant. The fact that he isn't human didn't mean anything to me. He has been around ever since I could remember, before I was born, actually. He was there first when I had a nightmare, he was the one who sat with me when I was sick, and he was the one always up for a game. More importantly though, Carl gives me a lot of advice, only some of which I listen to. He might be a robot, with wires, gears, and artificial intelligence but he is more real to me than anything. Even my dad wonders about Carl, because he shows emotions that he wasn't programmed with.

I went into the kitchen, where Carl and the mini Carls were putting away dishes. I knocked softly on the door.

"Hey, little buddy," he said, not turning around. I smiled faintly. That was Carl's nickname for me. He finished putting away the last stack of plates and turned to face me, his grin disappearing as he saw my strained smile. "What's the matter, pal?" he said in a softer voice, walking over to put his arm around me.

I took a deep breath. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure, anything, anything you need." He led me outside to a secluded spot under one of the few we have trees that aren't topiary. I guess he knew it would be hard to have a good heart-to-heart while sitting directly under a dinosaur's butt.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" he asked me after we had sat down.

At this point I was feeling kind of stupid, because I was 13 now, and I am the kind of guy that hates to cry because it makes me feel vulnerable, let alone talking about my feelings. I really needed to get this off my chest, though and this was Carl, not my mom or anything, so I sucked in a sharp breath and just let the words pour out.

"It's my dad, he's never around, he's always in his lab or working on an invention or something. I barely just get to hang out with him and when we do hang out he's always saying how if I work hard and 'keep moving forward', that I could be a scientist or an inventor just like him. But I don't want to be just like him! I don't want to be an inventor. I mean, it's really cool he invented so much stuff but that's his dream, not mine! He just expects me to be perfect like he is and…and…I…I-I feel like I'm just not…not…good enough f-for him." My voice started to break and my eyes were tearing up as I finished. I shook away the tears, trying desperately to keep my cool, not wanting to lose it, even in front of Carl. My shoulders shook forcefully as I struggled to compose myself. I closed my eyes and took slow, precise breaths as I counted to ten. I stood up. "Thanks, Carl."

"Anytime, little buddy. Are you sure…" he paused, not knowing how to continue.

"I'm good." I assured him, and ran into the house.

_That was a close one_, I thought as I dashed up to my room. I needed a distraction. I glanced around the room, and my eyes fell on the video game console on top of my TV. Perfect.

I pulled on the virtual reality suit and plunked the helmet on my head. Through the visor I could see an alien world, with power plants, pollution, and global-sized wars. This would be a great distraction.

I had just finished saving humanity from a nuclear war when my mom called me down for dinner over the intercom. I realized I was starving as I had completely missed lunch. I zipped through a travel tube into the dining room. I scooted my chair in a bit, this time sitting next to Grandpa Bud and Aunt Billie. I quietly ate my meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I barely noticed when Tallulah rose from her seat to stand behind my chair and called to Carl who was sitting in a chair against the wall, watching me with concern.

"Carl, hon, is there enough for seconds?"

Carl looked in disbelief at her plate. "You're not even finished."

She dumped the contents on my head. "Now I am." She replied innocently.

The whole family snickered at that, but I couldn't care less about the mutilated potatoes and meat dripping off my face. The laughter died down as my mom noticed I wasn't responding.

"Wilbur, honey, are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

Lefty dropped a towel on my head. I slowly removed it from my face and looked at my mom, conscious that everyone else was staring at me too.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I'm better than okay!" I laughed nervously. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

I wiped the contents of Tallulah's plate off my head and neck, trying my hardest to look perky.

"Are you sure?" She looked skeptical

I nodded, smiling tightly.

She gave me one last doubtful look before talking to Uncle Gaston again about the possibility of using frog crap as cannon fuel. As soon as possible, I tried to escape to my room, but I was stopped by my mom in the doorway.

"Can you take this out to the garage?" she asked me. I was handed a bag which was lighter than it looked. I slung it over my shoulder, and feeling almost like myself again, walked out to the garage, since the bag might make tube travel difficult.

I have often been accused of having a short attention span. This was proving to be a good thing right now, because I had almost forgotten about talking to Carl.

Suddenly I heard my mom's voice over the intercom.

"Wilbur, remember to shut that door tight otherwise the alarm system won't engage."

"Yeah mom!" I called, rolling my eyes. She talked to me like I was likely to forget important things. Suddenly I remembered the homework I had to do for English class.

I hadn't realized that I had left the door open until I heard a crash and saw the second time machine, the one my dad tried to make look a bit better than his first one, fly off into the stormy night, driven by a guy with a curly moustache and bowler hat.

This was bad.

I zoomed up the travel tube into Carl's room, where I hoped I could find him.

"Carl!" I shouted as soon as my feet hit the ground. He was sitting at his desk, sketching something. If robots had hobbies, sketching was Carl's.

"What's wrong, pal?" he asked, concern etched (figuratively) into his metal face.

"I am in so much trouble." I moaned.

Carl's face relaxed somewhat. "What did you do this time? Last time you were in 'so much trouble' you were only grounded for a month."

My pupil's dilated and I began to hyperventilate, the image of the time machine disappearing into the stormy sky squeezing me tighter and tighter…

"It's gone." I murmured, covering my face with my hands.

"What's gone? Look, talk to me!" Carl demanded.

I avoided his eyes. "It got stolen."

"WHAT? WHAT GOT STOLEN?" Carl shouted in my face.

I ran forward and covered his mouth. "Shh!" I scolded him.

"The time machine was stolen." I stared him fearfully in the eye, my voice shaking and quavering, just like my knees were.

"Ok, you are in so much trouble."

"More than that! If dad finds out, he'll be mad. If mom finds out, I'll be dead. If the guy in the bowler hat does something to the past then…"

Suddenly there was ice shards embedded in my gut, and my mouth went dry.

"Pal?" asked Carl nervously.

I couldn't breathe, let alone talk.

"Little buddy?" Carl shook my shoulders.

My mind could only think one thought.

"WILBUR?" he screamed in my face.

My voice went up a couple of octaves as I whispered "Then I might never exist."

Carl's eyes searched mine, or at least, as best as headlight eyes can.

After a moment I looked determinedly back at him.

"We need a plan."

I ran stealthily into the games room. I motioned for Carl to come in and he came down the hallway in one extended step. Dumping my models on the poker table, I grabbed a pointer out of the corner.

"How do you even know where he went?" asked Carl, his hands on his hips.

I fished some folded up paper from my pocket, and shoved a letter in his face. Written with terrible spelling, was a strange threat.

_Hah, Cornellius Robinnson, it waz I who stoled your time macheen! I will reck your siense project and take it as my own! Then I will sel it to a larje companee and ruin your lif! You can never stopp me! _

Carl looked at the letter, then at me. "Who is this guy?"

"I have no idea; I just know he has a bowler hat." I said. I arranged the clay figures accordingly, feeling proud of them despite my lack of artistic talent. I locked the door and turned to Carl.

"So this is how this is going to work," I announced, pointing to the clay people on the table.

"I will go back in time to find my dad as a kid, make sure his science project isn't sabotaged, then find the second time machine, and go home with both time machines with the space time continuum intact!" I finished enthusiastically.

"That's great, so how are you supposed to fly both time machines back at once?" Carl asked complacently.

My face fell. I rubbed my neck, thinking hard. Carl raised his eyebrows at me. I snapped my fingers as a light bulb went off in my head.

"When I get it, I'll come back here and get you, then I can drive one while you drive the other!" I grinned at him persuasively.

Carl stared hesitantly at me. "I don't know…"

"I know this will work. I'm Wilbur Robinson! What could go wrong?"

"Well let's think about this," said Carl soberly.

"No time! I'm off to save the world as we know it!"

Carl rolled his eyes at me as I hastened to the garage. I heard him mumble something about needing to relax but I was out of earshot in no time.

I started up the time machine easily. I had never driven it before but I had driven the hovercar before and the first time machine was just a flying car with a time stream mechanism stuck in. As I flew into the sky and punched in 17-06-2007 I tried not to think to hard about what I was getting myself into this time.


	2. Finding Lewis

I landed on top of Joyce Williams Elementary and switched on the invisibility system. Climbing out, I jumped down off the roof, and luckily only knocked the wind out of myself. I remembered that they didn't have bounce pads in the past and felt grateful it was only a one story building. I took one quick glance at my surroundings before I squeezed through a window. I smacked myself in the head when I saw the front doors were propped open by a sign that said _visitors welcome._ Creeping into the gymnasium, I browsed the gym, searching for my dad in his younger form. I checked out some of the other projects (avoiding the girl with the fire ants; she didn't look too friendly.) Finally I caught sight of the crazy blonde hair. Lewis looked pretty happy, not like anything was bothering him. I watched him carefully as I trailed him. He must have known I was there because he kept turning around but he just shrugged it off. He turned the corner and I saw my chance. I slipped under the cover, hiding in the wagon beside a machine that looked strangely familiar. I was jostled a bit as he lifted it onto the table. Then I thought of how the bowler hat gut could be anywhere. I quickly stuck my head out.

"This area is not secure! Get in!" I grabbed him and yanked him underneath too. His eyes bugged and I had to think quickly of what to say.

"Have you been approached by a tall man in a bowler hat?" I asked, checking that no one could see us.

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"Hey, hey, I'll ask the questions here!" I was still trying to think of how to make him believe me. How could I make him listen? The only one everyone had to listen to were the cops…

"Ok, goodbye." Lewis ducked out from under the sheet but I dragged him back up.

"Alright, I didn't want to pull rank on you but you forced my hand. Special agent Wilbur Robinson of the TCTF." I declared authoritatively, pulling out the only thing I had in my pocket. It was only a coupon, but he didn't need to know that. I put it away quickly before he could get a good look at it.

"The what?"

"Time Continuum Task Force. I'm here to protect you." He tried to interrupt but I covered his mouth. "Now, tall man, bowler hat, approached you?" I was getting into character now, easily lying to try to get him to believe me.

"No, why?"

I sighed dramatically and tapped my chin thoughtfully. "I could lose my badge for this. He's a suspect in a robbery."

"What'd he steal?"

"A time machine." At this point he just gave me a blank look.

"A what?"

"I've tracked him to this time and my informants say he's after you."

"Me? Why me?"

"The boys back at HQ haven't figured out a motive yet. And by "HQ", I mean headquarters."

"I know what HQ means!" he said haughtily.

"Good, you're a smart kid. That might just keep you alive…for now." I tried to make my voice sound ominous. "You just take care of your little science gizmo and leave the perp to me. And by "perp", I mean perp-"

"I know what it means!" Lewis said angrily.

"Ok, Mr. Smarty Pants." I stooped out from under the cover as I saw him. The Bowler Hat Guy! I couldn't let him escape. Running around the corner, I leapt out to grab him, but ended up on my face under a sheet. I stood up as rapidly as I could, throwing the star-covered fabric off of me.

"You'll never get away with this!" I proclaimed, but my face fell as I saw it was just a blonde little boy with a cap on, holding a box. "Kid with science project…" I said sheepishly.

"Dude, you almost busted my solar system!" he said, glaring at me accusingly.

I tried to look around if the real Bowler Hat Guy was around but an oddly familiar girl who looked no more than ten grabbed my hand and pulled me to her overturned box.

"My frogs, they're getting away!" she cried, forcing me to help her pick them up.

Finally she grabbed the biggest one and placed him on my already overflowing arm.

"Gotcha! That's the last of them!" she announced happily.

"Annoying little girl, I don't have time for this, I'm on a very important miss-" She cut me off and grabbed my collar.

"Don't sass me, boy!" she growled. "I know karate!" She let go of me and started punching the air. I just rolled my eyes, and still covered in frogs, turned to watch Lewis present his invention. I was feeling pretty proud of my dad as he convincingly presented his theory, although I couldn't understand a word. I watched eagerly as his invention began to come to life. I heard puffing behind me and turned for a split second to look at the Pukowski kid do laps for that guy in the too-small shorts. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. The hat! It was walking! Well, more so scuttling but it moved on its own. I turned frantically to Lewis as the Memory Scanner began to shake unnaturally. I had seen this many times before, almost every time my dad's inventions malfunctioned.

"Lewis, wait!" I called, dropping all the frogs.

He stared uneasily at the machine beside him as it rocked more furiously. The spinning turbine flew off and I had to duck to avoid it. It swerved upwards and hit the light, sending sparks flying. I watched in horror as the sparks exploded a paper maché volcano, then the Pukowski guy tripped, and knocked the fire ants into the air, where they landed on Mr. Tightshorts. He screamed an unmanly scream, and then ran around like a crazy person, upturning tables and science projects all over the gym. The nerdy-looking teacher was obviously not proud of the way things were going.

"Calm down, everyone!" he hollered, attempting to make himself heard over the commotion. "Suck it up, Coach!" He yelled at the over-muscular man who was now bawling like a newborn from the fire ant stings.

Lewis looked crestfallen as he saw all the destruction his invention had caused. "Mr. Willerstein, I didn't mean-"

"Not now, Lewis!" said the troubled teacher exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" Lewis kept apologizing.

"Not now," said the teacher wearily, waving Lewis away.

Lewis slammed his headset on the ground frustratedly and ran out of the gym.

"Wait Lewis!" I called, chasing after him, but he was gone too soon. What had the Bowler Hat Guy done?

I followed my twelve-year-old father as he dejectedly went back home to the orphanage. Running up to the roof, he tossed his bag down. I knew I had to do something, or things would get really screwy back home. I parked the Time Machine in midair beside the orphanage, and climbed up a fire ladder to the roof. I hid and watched Lewis rip his notebook to shreds, trying to think of a way to make him have faith in himself and his inventions again. He looked at the original drawing for the time machine a second longer before crumpling it and throwing it at me. Well, in my general direction. I picked in up and threw it back. Lewis whipped his head around, trying to see how the paper ball had defied Physics and come back to him. He threw it again, but farther from my hiding place. I decided to take the risk and did a roll over to the paper, threw it back, and hid again, hoping my dad was dumb enough to think that it was a figure of his imagination. Which was idiotic in itself, because my dad and dumb are two words that do not go together.

"Hey, what are you doing up here?" he asked.

I cooed like a pigeon, praying that he would just take the page and go fix the Memory Scanner already!

As I expected, he rolled his eyes and dropped it right in front of him. Still cooing, I picked up the ball, put it in his hands and patted them before diving back behind the wall.

"Would you quit that, please? I know you're not a pigeon!" he called out.

I realized I would have to get back into character for this to work. I raced over to him and covered his mouth.

"Shh! You're blowing my cover!"

"But we're the only ones up here!" Lewis argued.

"That's just what they want you to think," I told him, poking his shoulder. "Now, enough moping! Take this back to the science fair and fix that Memory Scanner!" I pressed the drawing into his hand and pushed him towards the door.

He twisted out of my grip and jumped back a few steps. "Stop, stop, get away from me!"

"Maybe you've forgotten, I'm a time cop from the future, should be taken very seriously," I said superiorly, flashing my "badge" again. He grabbed it before I could pull a now you see it, now you don't. I cringed as he looked at it skeptically.

"This isn't a badge; this is a coupon for a tanning salon! You're a fake!" he said, shoving the coupon back at me. I had to think fast, but this was something I was getting good at. I decided to just be straight with him.

"Ok, you got me, I'm not a cop but I really am from the future! And there really is this Bowler Hat Guy!" I said, wishing he would believe me.

"Ugh, here we go again." He muttered as he slung his backpack on.

"He stole a time machine, came to the science fair, and ruined your project!"

I continued, my tone rising.

"My project didn't work because I'm no good! There is no Bowler Hat Guy, there is no time machine, and you're not from the future! You're crazy!" Lewis yelled at me, heading for the door. I was deeply offended.

Blocking his path, I prodded his chest. "Ho, ho! I am not crazy!" I said firmly.

"Oh yeah, Captain Timetravel? Prove it!" He looked at me impatiently.

"Um…uh…" I had to think about that one.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," said Lewis, stalking off towards the door.

I didn't think it would be a good idea to bring him back with me, but I thought maybe I could just take him to the future for a minute to prove I really can travel through time...

Lewis muttered something about hiding under the covers, and as he opened the door to leave I slammed it shut with my whole body.

I looked at him seriously. "If I prove to you that I'm from the future, will you go back to the science fair?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," Lewis shrugged, unconvinced.

I smiled craftily. Grasping him tighter, I pushed him over to where the time machine was.

"Hey, let go of me!" he said, panic in his voice. I ignored him and kept pushing.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" Lewis said, now really freaking out.

"Okay." I said calmly, hoisting him over the wall. He screamed as the ground rushed up to meet him and I felt a pang of pity for him as his eyes widened and his arms flailed.

He landed with a dull thud in the time machine, and with him still screaming, I jumped in deftly and closed the hatch. Lewis pressed against his seat, looking apprehensively at everything. I punched in the date of when I left, and felt the time machine rise higher and higher.

"What is this? And where are we going?" he asked nervously.

"To…the future!" I replied dramatically, and accelerated. We burst through the stormy clouds into the sunshine. Lewis watched in amazement as the time bubble engulfed us, taking us to the year 2037.

"Whoa," Lewis breathed as we flew over the city. He looked amazed as we passed the bubble travel and the insta-building. It was actually kind of funny to watch, because this was the city I had grown up in, and I couldn't see what was so remarkable about it. I mean, yeah, it's awesome, but not mind-blowing.

"Is this proof enough for you?" I asked smugly, gesturing around.

"Is it ever!" Lewis replied, still in awe. "I never thought time travel could be possible in my lifetime and here it is, right in front of me!"

"The truth will set you free, brother."

"This is beyond anything I could have imagined. This means I could really change my life." Lewis said, his voice getting quieter as he thought of the possibilities.

I was thrilled with myself, thinking I had given him his confidence back. "That's right, you can! Next stop, science fair, to fix your Memory Scanner!" I began hitting the buttons that would take him home. He shook his head.

"I'm not going to fix that stupid Memory Scanner," he said with disdain.

"What!?!" I braked so fast the time machine screeched to a halt and spun around to face him, shocked.

"Wilbur, this is a _time machine_. Why would I fix my dumb invention if you could take me to see my mom now, in this ship?" he said, rolling his eyes.

I frowned, seeing his logic, but knowing I couldn't allow it.

"I could go back to that night, and stop her from giving me up." He continued as if in a trance.

"The answer is not a time machine! It's this!" I disputed, holding up the picture of the Memory Scanner.

"This? You want to know what I think about this?" I watched stunned as he ripped it into quarters.

"What are you doing?" I yanked my seatbelt off and scrambled for the scraps of paper.

Lewis took this chance and grabbed the steering wheel. "I'm sorry Wilbur, but you don't know what I've lived through." He tried to turn around.

"Lewis, no!" I yelled, seizing the steering wheel.

"Let go!" Lewis said angrily.

"You let go!" I countered

"You're not the boss of me!" It was true, but I couldn't let him know that.

"Yes I am! 'Cause you're twelve, and I'm thirteen! That makes me older!" I argued as we had a tug-o-war with the steering wheel.

"Well I was born in the past! That makes me older and the boss of you!" Lewis tried to wrench the steering wheel out of my hand but it came right out of the dashboard. We both screamed as we ricocheted off a building and rocketed to the ground. We skidded along the grass when we crashed, and finally ground to a halt. Luckily we weren't hurt but I couldn't say the same for the time machine.

"I am so dead." I moaned, still holding the steering wheel.

I jumped out of the busted time machine to survey the damage. It was worse than I thought. I knew that I was in huge trouble as soon as I saw it.

"I'm not allowed to look at this thing, let alone drive it! Mom and Dad are going to kill me, and I can tell you this, it will not be done with mercy." I said melodramatically, covering my face in hopelessness.

"Isn't there like, a time machine repair shop or something?" asked Lewis.

"No! There are only two time machines in existence and the Bowler Hat Guy has the other one." I was mad that he couldn't comprehend how dire the situation was. I needed another plan, and fast.

"Well, someone's got to fix this." Lewis stated obviously.

"Good idea," I said, dragging him closer to the time machine. "You're smart, you fix it!"

"Are you crazy? I can't fix this thing!" he shouted.

"Yes, you can. You broke it, you fix it," I said stubbornly.

He appraised the damage. "Ok, on one condition: I fix it, you have to take me back to see my mom." he said, knowing I couldn't say no.

"What? You didn't even follow through on our last deal! How can I trust you?" I said accusingly, pointing a finger at him.

"Well you told me you were a time cop from the future! How can I trust you? he retorted, mimicking my finger pointing.

I was trapped. "Touché." I tapped my chin. I would just have to lie.

"So do we have a deal?" Lewis asked, extending a hand.

I really needed him to fix it, so I just decided to agree. We shook hands, and began to think of how we were going to dislodge the time machine from the dirt.


	3. Confidence Issues

My arms started to hurt as we pushed the time machine up the hill before my house. When we neared the house, I told Lewis my plan. Part of it, anyway.

"We'll sneak this thing into the garage. You'll have all the tools you need." I informed him.

"What about your parents? Lewis asked.

I hadn't thought of that, but it wasn't a problem. "Mom never goes down there, and Dad's on a business trip until tomorrow. You've got until then to fix it."

"Ok, but I'm going to need some blueprints or something, for this thing," We were almost at the door.

"No worries. I've got someone who can help us with that." I said confidently. Carl had all of Dad's blueprints in his hard drive.

We had reached the big metal door with a large red R displaying my dad's symbol. I was glad that I could rest my arms for a moment. Suddenly the hatch on the peephole flew open.

"Who dares to disturb my sanctuary?" a menacing voice echoed from inside the garage. Lewis looked a bit worried, but I was kind of annoyed by Carl's games.

"Carl, it's me. Let me in." I demanded.

"None may enter unless they speak the royal password." Carl insisted, still using his threatening voice.

Every now and then Carl liked to make up a password and we all just humored him until the whim had passed. Right now, though, I really didn't have time for this.

"Carl, what are you talking about? We don't have a password."

"Yes, we do, I made one up while you were gone."

I was getting mad at Carl's childishness. "Then how am I supposed to know what it is?" I said, catching him at his own game.

"You…" he hesitated. "Good point." He conceded, using his normal voice.

The door swung open and I dragged in the time machine.

"Welcome back, little buddy," Carl greeted me. "So, what's up with the stolen time machine? Did you find it?"

I gave him a sarcastic look. Carl was my best friend, but sometimes he got on my nerves.

"Apparently not, and you managed to bust this one as well!" he responded to my look.

"It'll be fixed before dad gets home." I assured him.

"And how do you suppose that's going to happe- who's that?" He pointed at Lewis.

"Wow, a real robot! Hi, I'm Lewis!" Lewis ran up to Carl and tried to shake his hand. Carl took one look at the hair and took off, running and screaming up the travel tube. I bit my lip, having expected Carl to handle seeing his creator thirty years younger a bit better. I needed to cover that hair before anyone else freaked out.

"That was unexpected." Lewis backed up a bit towards me.

I spotted a ridiculous fruit hat by my feet and decided I had no choice. I slammed it on top of Lewis's head, covering the spiky blond mess.

"As was that." he said, giving me a questioning look as he turned to face me.

"If my family finds out I brought you from the past they'll bury me alive and dance on my grave. I'M NOT EXAGGERATING! Well, yes I am, but not the point. The point is your hair is a dead giveaway." I explained. Then I realized I better go explain to Carl and get the blueprints.

"Why would my hair be a dead giveaway?" Lewis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That is an excellent question," I said, using the phrase I use when I don't want to answer. He had to be on the need-to-know answers only list. I ran towards the travel tube to find Carl.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Lewis called out.

"Another excellent question!" I stood under the travel tube.

"But I don't want to just sit here!" I heard Lewis say as I zoomed up.

I touched the wall of the tube, which served as a reverse switch. I came back down and told him, "Stay!"

Zooming up again, I heard him protest again. "But…"

I sighed and touched the wall again. I came back down and gave him the look. Finally, I zoomed up to find Carl. He was pacing and muttering to himself in the games room.

"Carl?" I asked tentatively. He didn't look up. "Carl, this will all work out!"

Carl glanced at me. "I think we should tell someone before this gets even more out of hand."

"Are you crazy? We can't go to the family!" I argued. I understood what he was saying but I could not let them know. I would be in so much trouble if my mom found out.

"What do you mean, don't go to the family? How can we not go to the family in this time of family crisis?" I flinched. Carl had never yelled at me before. "By leaving the garage door unlocked, you let the time machine get stolen, and now the whole time stream could be altered! That and somebody took my bike."

I wanted to yell back at him, I wanted to say, _I know, I know I screwed up but I can handle this!_ I also wanted to tell him his bike was actually in my dad's lab, because my dad was making a TV bike for Uncle Joe to work out on while watching TV but I didn't have time for that. I noticed my clay figures were still on the table and set them up again.

"Look, I told you, this is all gonna work out." I grabbed the pointer out of the corner again.

"First, we keep Lewis in the garage away from everybody, I show up and give him the pep talk of the century, then he fixes the time machine-"

"Why is it an acorn?" Carl pointed out.

"I didn't have time to sculpt everything!" I said, annoyed. "Ok, now, the time machine is fixed, his confidence in inventing is restored, he goes back to the science fair, fixes his Memory Scanner, thus restoring the space time continuum!" I finished assertively.

"What about taking him to see his mom?" Carl asked, seeming a little put out.

I wasn't sure how he even found out about that. "I just told him that to buy some time."

"Oh yeah, can't see that one blowing up in your face!" Carl said condescendingly

"Trust me, I've got it all under control. Wilbur Robinson never fails." I said confidently… maybe a little overconfidently. "But, on the slight chance that I do…" I said uncertainly.

"On the slight chance, yeah. You know what? I'll run the numbers." Carl said contemptuously as he pulled out the calculator built into the inside of his chest. I watched tensely as he ripped the calculation sheet out of his mouth. He looked at the answer and gasped tremendously.

"What is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Well, it's not…it doesn't pertain to anything in partic…you know, there's not necessarily..." I raised an eyebrow at him. He looked at me timidly. "There's a 99.9999999% chance that you won't exist."

"What?" Surely I had heard wrong. He probably punched in a wrong number. Then again, Carl had never made an incorrect calculation in my life.

"And I didn't want to tell you, but I did." Carl's voice was a shrill whisper.

"I won't exist?" I had tried so hard to right my wrongs and now it was for nothing?

"And where does that leave me? Alone, rusting in a corner." Carl worried.

My jaw dropped. I won't exist? Then I realized I was losing my cool. 0.0000001% said I was going to exist and that was better than nothing. "Eh, what am I worried about?" I shrugged.

Carl rolled his eyes at me as if to say_ that kid._

"Now, blueprints?" I held my hand out for them. Carl's torso opened up and a hand was holding the plans I needed. I grabbed them and ran back towards the garage. Lewis was probably bored out of his skull.

I flew down the travel tube into the garage. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one who knew exactly where they all are and where they lead to. I guess it's because my dad installed them when I was two, and I loved exploring them. They're pretty easy to use, as long as you remember to bend your knees a little when you land. Probably the hardest part is getting used to the vacuum feel of it. That took me a while.

"Ok, Lewis, I got the blueprints." I said as I landed on the garage floor. There was no reply. I glanced around worriedly. Lewis was nowhere to be seen. "Lewis?"

I assumed he had taken the other travel tube, the one that leads to the front yard. I climbed out of the tube and looked hopefully around for Lewis. He was nowhere to be seen.

I went up on the front steps.

"Spike, Dimitri, have you seen a guy with fruit on his head?" I asked my uncles who were, as always, hiding in the plant pots by the front door. They just ducked down and hid. I sighed. They were never in a talkative mood. They only wanted people to ring the doorbells. Then I got an idea. "Whoever can tell me where Fruit-head went, I will ring their doorbell."

"He went that way!" they shouted in unison, pointing towards the side yard. I pushed both doorbells at once, covered my ears and ran.

I went up the tube that led to the living room. I lifted the light-weight chair, and called out for Lewis. The only people in there were Uncle Gaston and Aunt Billie, the latter of which was using her train to pull a pillar off the former.

"Hey, Aunt Billie!" I called. "Did a guy with a fruit hat come through here?"

"Yeah, he went towards Uncle Art's flight pad. Hold on, Gaston, it's almost there."

I took the travel tube out to the flight pad. "Lewis?" I yelled. I spotted Buster, our dog, sitting on the lawn. "Buster, did a kid with a fruit hat come by?" I asked. He wagged his tail in the direction of a travel tube I knew was under the stegosaurus topiary. Although, if I wasn't mistaken, I didn't really want to use that travel tube.

"Lewis!" I called, my head emerging from a toilet bowl. Of course, he wasn't in here either. I walked out the door into Laszlo's art hallway. It had super high ceilings so he could fly around in it. He was zipping around, spraying paint on some blank canvases.

"Laszlo, did a guy with fruit on his head come through here?" I asked wearily.

"Eh, Wilbur? Oh, he went to see Grandma Lucille." He handed me a canvas. "Can you hold this over your head?" I did as I was asked, and Laszlo went all the way to the top of the ceiling and sprayed straight down. Paint splashed everywhere. "Thanks, cuz!" he called down.

After zooming all around the house, Lefty told me Lewis was in the music room. I had to sprint, because my mom didn't want a travel tube in her music room. Too distracting, she said. I ran as fast as I could, trying to get there before he left again. I turned the corner and ran smack into Lewis. We both flew backwards, landing with a thump. After the first wave of relief, I was kind of mad.

"Lewis, I told you to stay in the garage!" I shouted angrily.

"I did, but I went up the tube and then I ran into your family and then I-"

I cut him off, spluttering and shaking my head. "You met my family?" Grabbing him by the ear, I dragged him into the nearest closet. I clicked on the light and looked at him sternly.

"Pop quiz, who have you met and what have you learned?" I listened carefully as he rattled off the whole family with ease.

"But nobody realized you were from the past, right?"

"Nope." Lewis grinned.

I sighed in relief. I was safe, at least for now.

We took a travel tube down to the garage. I went over to my dad's massive toolbox and pulled out some tools. Then I went over to the other side of the garage and grabbed the sliding thing that looked like a bigger version of my skateboard. I handed them to Lewis and stood back a bit.

"Well, what are you going to do?" he asked, gliding under the time machine.

"Oh, I'm, uh…" I glanced around. I caught sight of a sponge. "I'm going to clean it." Picking up the sponge, I ran it under the tap for a minute, and then began to wipe the bright red surface of the time machine. After about forty minutes, Lewis spoke up.

"I don't even know what I'm doing." he called from underneath the machine.

"Keep moving forward," I quoted, polishing the glass dome.

"I mean, this is way too advanced for me." he complained again.

"Keep moving forward," I repeated, checking my reflection in the now shining glass.

"And what if I can't fix this? Then what are we going to do?" he continued.

"Keep moving forward," I replied nonchalantly, recalling that I hadn't brushed my teeth today.

"Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward!" he slid out from underneath.

"It's my dad's motto." I responded, pushing him back under.

"Why would his motto be keep moving forward?" he came back out.

"It's what he does," I answered, shoving him back again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lewis slid out once more.

"That is an excellent question!" I said, meaning it for once.

I grabbed Lewis's hand and pulled him up to the observatory. I grasped the telescope and quickly searched for what I was looking for. It didn't take to long, because I knew off by heart where the massive R was. I passed the telescope to Lewis.

"Robinson Industries," I explained. "The world's leading scientific-research-and-design factory. My dad runs the company. They mass produce his inventions. His motto: Keep Moving Forward." I looked through the telescope again.

"What has he invented?" Lewis asked.

"Everything. Carl, the time machine, the travel tubes…"

"Your dad invented the time machine?" he asked in awe.

I smiled. I loved telling this story. "Yep. Five years ago, dad wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, wants to build a time machine. So he starts working!" I exclaimed, gesturing dramatically. I pushed him over to the travel tube that lead to the hall branching off from my dad's lab.

"We're talking plans," I said, tossing him an armful of rolled up brainstorms.

"We're talking scale models," I continued, opening the adjacent closet, a torrent of mini plastic time machines flooded out. I quickly piled them back in and we flew back to the garage.

"We're talking prototypes!" I snapped my fingers and a spotlight illuminated a showcase with a single metal nut in it.

"That's a prototype?" asked Lewis uncertainly.

"The very first!" I pressed my face to the glass. "Or what's left of it." I admitted.

"Yikes."

"Yeah. Dark day at the Robinson house." I remembered that day, when I was eight and a half, I heard an explosion that shook the house, and my dad staggered out of the garage, covered in soot and burns. My mom frantically hollered to Carl to take me up to my room. The last I saw of my dad that day was him collapsing in my mom's arms, smiling at me reassuringly through bent glasses.

"Prototypes two and three, not much better." I pointed out two other showcases with not much more than the first.

"Number six, 58, 212, 485, 952." I pointed to each prototype, all mangled from failure after failure. "And they all end the same way." I held up the flash cards my dad used when he tried to explain his motto to me when I was three. Failure, sad, down the toilet.

"But he doesn't give up!" I shouted, shaking Lewis by the collar. My eyes darted to his fruity hat. "Dude, I can't take you seriously in that hat." I quickly grabbed my cap with the same logo as my shirt and plunked it on his head.

Shoving him forward, I kept explaining. "He keeps working and working until, finally, he gets it. The first working time machine!" I gestured to the heap of metal we had crashed earlier. "Then, he keeps working and working until finally, he gets it again. The second working time machine." This one was made better, more eye-pleasing, after my dad knew what the fundamentals were.

"Kind of small." Lewis raised his eyebrows at the tiny model.

"I'm assuming that's a joke. I'm ignoring you for time reasons. This, my friend, is merely a model because, unfortunately, time machine number two is in the hands of the Bowler Hat Guy." I didn't tell him that this was mainly my fault.

We walked back across the immense garage to the time machine. I hopped up on the wing and leaned proudly against the dome hatch. "Pretty amazing story, huh?"

"Yeah," Lewis agreed.

"Now, are you ready to start working?" I looked him in the eye.

He smiled determinedly and slid under the time machine. I watched as he repaired with resolve. It was kind of fascinating, because my dad never let me watch him build his inventions. He said it was for my own safety, but I had always been frustrated by that.

Finally Lewis stopped working. He just stared at his handiwork.

"I think that's it," he said, standing up. "I did it!"

"I knew you could." I hopped in the cockpit. Hopefully he had forgotten about my promise to take him to see his mom. Lewis climbed in the back. "Nice work, my friend." I complimented. Shifting the gears, I prepared for takeoff. All of a sudden the time machine started shuddering and faltering. Something exploded, the engine, I think, and I braced myself for the crash. Smoke filled the hatch and I struggled to breathe while scrambling to open the dome. Finally my hand found the button and I felt clean air whoosh into my lungs as the smoke streamed out of the time machine. I spun around in my seat to face Lewis, who was covering his nose and mouth, pressed against the chair.

"Well, you know what they say, keep moving-" I tried to console him but he stood up.

"Don't say it!" he yelled in my face. Jumping out of the back, he kicked the sliding board across the garage and threw his hat to the ground. I knew how bad he was feeling, how he felt like he was no good at anything, like he was a complete failure. I reached out to touch his shoulder, to comfort him. My mom's voice echoed from the intercom.

"Boys, dinner time!"

"Not now, mom!" I growled.

"If you aren't up here in five minutes, I'm going to come down there and get you!"

I gasped, withdrawing my hand. She couldn't come down here.

"We better get up there." I said, picking up his hat and handing it to him. I hoped he could find his confidence again before something even worse happened.


	4. Dinosaur Dinner

I towed Lewis towards the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and hands, then stepped aside to allow him to do the same. He just stood there, staring at his feet.

"Lewis," I sighed. "Wash the soot off."

He looked up at me. He stuck his hands under the tap. I opened the cupboard under the vanity and pulled out the invention my dad made for super quick clothes cleaning. It resembled a vacuum, one from like, 2007, but smaller.

"Come here," I instructed to Lewis. It felt kind of weird to be bossing my dad around, but I had sort of thought of Lewis as more of a friend now. He obeyed and held his arms out. I ran the QuickClean over his body, and it instantly dissolved the soot off of his clothes. I handed it to him and he did the same to me. I placed it back under the sink and put my arm around Lewis's shoulder, leading him towards the dining room.

Lewis sat across from me, staring dejectedly at the table. Carl came in from the kitchen.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, dinner is served." Carl announced as all the mini Carls burst out of his torso, each carrying a bowl filled with spaghetti and meatballs.

Lewis barely glanced at the tiny Carl and went back to staring jadedly at the bowl. They're actually kind of cute, although not as complex as Carl's hardware.

I knew that I had to think of a way to make Lewis believe in himself again or I might really disappear. I stared at him, tapping my fork on the table.

I heard Carl clear his throat. I looked over at him. He looked pointedly under the table.

"We gotta talk." He said, ducking his head underneath. I glanced around and dropped down beside him.

"Why is the kid still here? Any of this ring a bell? Science fair, Memory Scanner, a time stream that needs fixing?" he asked agitatedly.

"Temporary setback. He's just having a little confidence issue." I explained.

"You want me to talk to him?" Carl suggested.

"No." I moved to sit back up.

"I give a mean back rub." he offered.

"No." I repeated.

"Shiatsu?"

"No."

"Feng Shui?"

"No."

"Yog-?"

"No!" I grabbed a mini Carl and shoved it in his mouth. "I've got it under control!" I came up from under the table.

My mom was laughing at something. "So, Lewis, are you in Wilbur's class?"

I said "No!" at the same time Lewis said "Yes!" I shook my head and tried again. I said "Yes!" while Lewis simultaneously said "No!" I grimaced.

"I mean yes and no. Lewis is a new transfer student," I lied hurriedly. She seemed to buy it.

"Where you from, Lewis?" asked Uncle Gaston.

"Um…Canada?" Lewis stammered.

"I think you mean North Montana. Hasn't been called Canada in years," Tallulah said as she propped herself on her elbows.

"Do you know Sam Gunderson?" asked Grandma Lucille. I vaguely remembered him as Lucille's cousin's nephew. I hoped Lewis could come up with something as fast as I could.

"Well, it's a big country," he reasoned.

"State!" exclaimed Tallulah.

"I wonder if you're related?" mused Grandma.

"Maybe if he took his hat off?" suggested Laszlo as he flew behind my chair.

I stopped chewing. This was headed in a bad direction.

"Oh, good! Then we can see if he has the family cowlick!" Grandma said, nudging Grandpa Bud, who was doing the cancan with his meatballs.

"He can't!" I said hastily. "Because, uh, he's got bad hat hair!"

Uncle Art scoffed at me. "Nonsense. A North Montana man doesn't care about hat hair!"

Everyone started to talk about the hat. My mom started to coax Lewis to take his hat off. I bit my knuckle. I caught sight of Uncle Gaston's meatball cannon on the table beside him. I picked up a meatball and hurled it at Uncle Gaston's face. It smacked him square in the face. He looked over at me accusatively. I pointed to my mom, who was reaching for the brim of Lewis's hat.

"And so it begins!" he declared, stuffing a meatball into his cannon. He fired it, and it slapped my mom's cheek. Her hand drew back to feel her face. Licking the meatball sauce off of her finger, she turned to her brother.

"Ha! Surely that is not the best you can do!"

He fired a few more at her, all of which she whacked away.

"Impressive, little sister. Your skills are strong, but not strong enough,"

"Your words do not threaten me, brother." she retorted

"Then enough words. Now the real battle begins!" They glared at each other for a moment. I rolled my eyes slightly. They did this every time we had spaghetti and meatballs. On the other hand, it was always fun to see who won.

Gaston shot meatball after meatball at my mom, and she deflected every one of them. I wasn't surprised. She was, after all, the one who taught me karate.

"Your meatballs are useless against me." my mom stood on top of the table, arms raised in defense.

"Then how about _spicy Italian sausage_!" he said, his full of bravado.

"No!" Mom's eyes widened in irrational panic. Gaston shot the sausage at her. Then her face molded into unyielding determination. Bringing the heel of her palm forward, she reflected the meat back at Gaston, and it hit him so hard he flipped backward off his chair. He stood up and grinned, sausage wedged in his mouth.

I smiled at my mom, who was shining her fingernails on her dress. "I did it." she said pompously. I had a fleeting thought of how much better it would be if my dad was here, but quickly thrust it back into my subconscious.

"Is dinner like this every night?" I heard Lewis ask Uncle Art softly.

"No, yesterday we had meatloaf." he answered earnestly. I chuckled.

Carl returned from the kitchen. "Ok, gang, time for the second course," he said while collecting the last of the dishes. "And what goes better with spaghetti and meatballs than PB & J?" He popped the attachment out of his head. I saw a flicker of realization flit across Lewis's face. I deftly caught the toast Carl shot at me, then held them flat for the peanut butter and jelly. When my toast had yet to be splattered with PB & J, I looked away from Lewis at Carl. He was banging on the contraption, trying to unblock it. That was the only problem with my dad's PB& J machine. The peanut butter always jammed it. Every time he tried to unclog it, it exploded. Good thing no one in our family had a peanut allergy, or our face could blow up like a balloon. That wouldn't be a pretty sight. I'm glad it never happened.

"Is everything all right?" my mom asked, standing up in case she was needed.

"We're just experiencing bugs." Carl muttered as he twisted the nozzle.

This was just what I needed. If Lewis fixed it, he might get his confidence back. I grabbed his arm and yanked him over to Carl and the problematic invention.

"My friend Lewis is an inventor! He can fix it!" I announced.

"Wilbur! You know I can't!" he hissed through his teeth.

"You don't know what's at stake!" Grandpa Bud said, looking at Lewis with anxiety. "Uncle Joe has seen the toast!" It was true. Uncle Joe had this thing about toast. It had to have peanut butter and jelly on it, or he lost it. I had seen him have a fit once. Not pretty. Even now his face was turning red and he started to tremble. Aunt Billie went over to stroke his hand.

"I don't know," Lewis rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly.

"You'd really be helping us out," Mom said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. I knew he couldn't resist my mom's pleading smile. He put the PB&J machine on the table and pulled some tools out that he had stashed in his pocket.

He worked away determinedly on it, blocking out everything around him. That's how my dad had become while working on inventions. He ignored his surroundings (and his family) sometimes staying up all night to finish. I relished the time in between jobs, when he actually had time for me. When I was younger, my dad was still busy, but he still had time for us. Then he got the time machine idea, and inspiration after inspiration popped into his head. Now he was working on, finishing, or planning another invention. He cared more about making the world better than making time for his wife or son, or the rest of the family for that matter. Then again, he probably wouldn't want to spend time with me anyway. I pressed my fists to my head. What was wrong with me? I had to get these agonizing thoughts out of my head.

"There, that should do it," Lewis said, adding the last screw. He stuck the gizmo in Carl's hand. "Go, Carl!"

Carl aimed the nozzle at Uncle Joe's toast. The expelling end stopped spinning and jerked wildly. It exploded again, spraying PB&J everywhere. I smiled grimly, knowing I would have to QuickClean my shirt again. Lewis buried his face in his hands, groaning and apologizing.

"You failed!" said Grandpa enthusiastically.

"And it was awesome!"

"Exceptional!"

"Outstanding!"

"Aw, I've seen better!"

Lewis looked bewilderedly at his supporters.

"With failing you learn. With success, hmm, not so much." Aunt Billie explained in her quirky accent, smiling warmly at Lewis.

"If I gave up every time I failed, I would have never made the meatball cannon!" Gaston stroked his cannon affectionately.

"I would have never made my fireproof pants!" Grandpa lit his pants on fire to demonstrate, but the simply poofed into ash. "Eh, still working out the kinks." I shook my head.

"Like my husband always says…" Mom gave Carl his cue. Suddenly the dining room was bursting with banners, fireworks, and music that shrieked "Keep Moving Forward!"

Everyone clamored around Lewis when it was done, encouraging and congratulating him. My mom tapped the side of her glass.

"Ok, everyone, everyone quiet down. I propose a toast to Lewis and his brilliant failure. May it lead to success in the future." My mom smiled tenderly at Lewis, who was gazing gratefully back at everybody.

"Gosh, you guys are so nice to me. If I had a family, I'd want them to be just like you."

My mom's smile faltered a bit. "Well, to Lewis!"

Everyone echoed, "To Lewis!" and we all dumped our sparkling water on our heads. That was the best thing about our toasts. Lewis looked a little mystified but he did the same.

My mom sidled up to me. "What did he mean 'if he had a family'?"

I absently pulled a speck off my glass. "Oh, Lewis is an orphan." I said nonchalantly.

"Orphan!" she gasped and I wondered if I had said too much. I faintly felt a vibration under my feet. The vibration became a vigorous rumble, shaking the whole house. I heard a roar, and I spun around. There was a large shape beyond the giant glass window that covered the whole wall. A shape that looked like a…dinosaur? I realized with horror there was indeed a 20-foot-tall extinct reptile outside my house. I couldn't feel my legs.

Lewis, however, was unperturbed. "Why didn't you guys tell me you had a pet dinosaur?" he said, running up to the glass.

I barely managed to find my voice. "Um, because we don't?' I squeaked.

"What are you talking about?" Lewis said, not noticing the rest of the family's fright. "He's standing right here!" The dinosaur busted through the window. I protected my face from the shattered glass with my arms. The dinosaur opened its jaws and ate Lewis.

"No!" was all I could say. The dinosaur seemed to change his mind, and it awkwardly held its mouth open with Lewis dangling off its tongue.

"Chew-chew on this!" yelled Aunt Billie, steering her train into the dinosaur. If I wasn't so scared that would have been a very bad pun. The dinosaur just ran on the train like a treadmill and jumped back on to the balcony.

"Lewis!" I called out. My mom gasped. Then the family leaped into rescue mode.

"Stay here!" Carl warned me as he charged along with everyone else to save Lewis. I didn't know what he was talking about. How was I supposed to just sit here while my father/best friend got eaten by a prehistoric monster? I darted around to the back, sneaking past the frog bar and dinosaur trees. I heard a cry of "Run!" as Lewis ran up the hill, the dinosaur snapping at his feet. Lewis cringed in a corner, but the dinosaur couldn't reach him with his puny arms. I grabbed Lewis's wrist and yanked him out of the corner. We began to flee, but then I saw it. On top of the dinosaur's huge head sat a bowler hat.

"Bowler Hat Guy!" I cried out. He was the one behind this! He obviously still had the time machine. I turned and ran towards Lewis, but my stop had left me closer to the giant reptile. He picked me up with his teeth and flung me into the air. I screamed as I plummeted into the dinosaur's eager throat. Suddenly a hand grabbed my ankle. I looked up at Lewis, who was holding on with his other hand to a shovel jammed between the dinosaur's teeth. I was relieved, but Lewis's arm couldn't hold himself up for too long, forget holding me up as well. I spied Gaston's meatball cannon. Hoping there was still some ammo left, I aimed, and pulled the cord. The meatball bounced off of the wall of the house and knocked the hat off of the dinosaur's head. The creature swayed, woozy from lack of mind control, and collapsed. We shot out of its mouth and skidded across the grass. Dizzily I wondered how I was going to explain this to my mother.


	5. Betrayal Hurts

I stood up and dusted myself off. Strangely, Lewis took no heed of the dirt on his clothes and dusted me off too. Must've been some fatherly instinct.

"Nice catch." I told him.

"Nice meatball shooting." he replied. "Guess we make a pretty good team."

The words sounded odd. "Yeah, guess we do."

My mom rushed up, panting and flailing her arms. "Are you boys all right?"

"We're good Mom." I squirmed as she pulled me into a hug and pecked my cheek. Ugh, it was so embarrassing when she did that. At least she actually cared…

"-it was so cool Mom!" I heard Lewis exclaim. I looked over at him questioningly through my mother's embrace. Everything was suddenly tense and quiet.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I-" Lewis was red as he tried to apologize.

"Oh, Lewis, it's okay," my mom said reassuringly, letting go of me to hug him. "I'm really happy you're safe."

"Your head!" Lewis noticed the bruise forming on her forehead. I wondered what had happened while I was coming around back.

"Oh, it's just a bruise, Lewis." she dismissed it.

"All of you sacrificed so much…for me." Lewis stated wonderingly.

"Well of course we did!"

"You are one special kid."

"One of a kind!" All of my family started saying how wonderful Lewis was. I smiled, because it was nice to see how Lewis's beamed at being loved.

"Ok, you should get him out of here before something really bad happens." Carl whispered.

Carl's pessimism was irking me now. "Silly, silly robot," I scolded, grabbing his face and shaking. "I've got it all under control."

"Ok, everyone, it's been a long, hard day filled with emotional turmoil and dinosaur fights, so why don't you all hit the hay, and Lewis and me will get going." I waved everybody away.

They glanced at each other. "Do you have to go now?" my mom asked. "I mean, it's getting late. Maybe Lewis could spend the night."

"Maybe some other time, ok, Mom?" I started to drag Lewis away.

"Well anytime you want to come over you just come over." she continued.

"Mom-" I tried to interrupt.

"The truth is, we love having you." She smiled warmly at Lewis, who gazed back adoringly.

"We really have to go." I put my hand on Lewis's shoulder to pull him away.

"No, you don't." My mom looked at us seriously. "You have to stay. I mean, who would be a better family for you than us? What do you say, Lewis? Do you want to be a Robinson?"

His eyes widened. "You-you want to adopt me?" He hesitated for a moment before nodding.

My family cheered, and I looked over a Carl. He gave me the "cut!" signal. I thought quickly, weighing my options. I flipped Lewis's cap off. Everyone stopped cheering and recoiled in horror. My face twisted when I thought of how much trouble I was in.

"Ok, it's true. I'm from the past. Now you know the big secret." Lewis admitted.

"Wilbur, what have you done? How could you bring him here?" she glared at me in shock.

"That is an excellent question." I opened my mouth, prepared to lie, but Lewis cut me off.

"Please, don't blame Wilbur. He was just being a good friend." Lewis defended me. I felt a stab of guilt. He had no idea how used he was.

"Lewis, I'm so sorry," my mom stuttered. "But you have to go back."

"What? But you just said-" he argued.

"I know what I said."

"I'm from the past! So what?"

"Lewis," My mom stared at him. "Lewis, look at me." She lifted his chin. "You're a great kid, and I would never do anything to hurt you," He twisted his head away. "I'm sorry. You have to go back to your own time."

"Yeaaaah, about that. One of the time machines is broken and the other was stolen by a guy in a bowler hat, which kind of explains the dino." I said, honestly for once.

She glanced at the now-conscious dinosaur, who was looking scared and lonely. He'd be a cute pet, I thought.

"I'm calling your father." She turned towards the house. I sighed resignedly.

"Wait, if I have to go back, can I at least find my mom? Wilbur promised." Lewis spoke up. I winced. Why did he have to go and bring that up?

"You promised what?" My mom was furious now.

"I was never going to do it, I swear!" I said, before I immediately covered my mouth.

"You lied to me?" Lewis asked, betrayed.

"No!" I shook my head, but he gave me a look. "Yes." I confessed.

He let out a cry of frustration. Lewis? Lewis wait!" I reached for him as he ran off into the twilight.

"I can't believe I was dumb enough to actually believe you were my friend!" he shouted at me.

"But I am your friend!" I yelled back, but he was already gone

"Mister?" I heard my mother say behind me. I flinched and looked back tentatively.

"You're grounded…till you die." Everyone nodded in agreement and stalked away.

I just stood there guiltily. I had to get Lewis and apologize. I had to fix this once and for all. I would tell him everything. I looked up at Carl, who was the only one left standing in front of me.

"Carl, buddy-"

"Uh-uh." He shook his head. "Nope. This is it. You've really messed up. I told you. What'd I tell you? You lied to him. You were all like, Look at me I'm Wilbur Robinson, I can lie and do whatever I want because I'm invincible and nobody else has feelings!" I shrunk back. Carl had never, ever spoken to me like this. It frightened me a little. "Well, you know what? That's it! I'm done. I'm not pulling you out of anymore sticky situations. None. I quit being your cover-up. Figure this one out on your own. See ya!" He spun around and stomped into the house.

I was shocked. I was frozen, staring at Carl as he slammed the door. Even the dinosaur had slunk off somewhere. I had to go stop Lewis, with or without Carl. I ran down the hill, towards where he ran off.

"Lewis?" I called out "Let's just talk about this! Come on, I know you're around here somewhere! Lewis!" I ran up another hill, and saw him standing at the top. I noticed in dismay that he was in front of the Bowler Hat Guy in the time machine. Lewis moved as if to take his hand.

"No!" I mouthed desperately.

Lewis glared at me defiantly and grasped the Bowler Hat Guy's hand. Before I could even blink, they were soaring off into the night. I watched as the blue machine got smaller and smaller, unsure of what to do.

I collapsed against the tree behind me. I had really done it now. After how hard I had tried, all the lying and the excuses, I was a failure. A screw up. I felt a lump form in my throat as a tear rolled down my cheek. I was consumed with pure, boiling revulsion for myself. Insults flew through my mind, stinging like bees. Loser. Wimp. Liar. Cheater. Idiot. Jerk. I tried to push them away but a voice from inside began to hiss at me.

_Your whole family's mad at you, _it jeered.

I buried my face in my arms.

_Carl's angry with you, too, _the voice continued nastily.

"I know," I whispered, the tears falling harder.

_You lied to your best friend and now he hates you_.

"I'm sorry!" I cried, trying to force the voice away.

_Even your father hates you, _the voice said maliciously.

I cracked, and started sobbing uncontrollably. The voice was right. I wasn't smart, or special, or talented. My only talent was getting into trouble. I couldn't do anything right. All I did was screw things up. I left the garage door open, let the time machine get stolen, broke the time machine, lied to everyone, and betrayed my best friend. I might not even exist soon. Maybe that was a good thing. Then I wouldn't be able to mess everything up. Even if I tried again, I would probably fail.

I heard another, softer voice ring through my subconscious. _Keep moving forward. _

"Dad?" I stood up, glancing around wildly. The yard was silent except for a lone woodchuck scurrying under a bush. I guessed that Grandpa Bud had finally shaken it off. I heaved a big sigh, and made my way towards Carl's room.

"Carl?" I said softly as I knocked on his door.

"Come in, Wilbur." I heard him say in an exasperated tone.

"Carl, I'm sorry. I know that sometimes I can be a little…"

"Impetuous?" Carl questioned.

"Um… I suppose so." I only faintly knew what that meant. "The point is, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I keep screwing up. I'm sorry I didn't listen to your advice. But right now, I really need your help. This isn't for my sake, it's for Lewis's. Please, please, help me, just one more time?"

Carl sighed. "You can be way too melodramatic, you know that? All right, I'm in."

I smiled gratefully at him as we took off.

"Are you getting anything?" I asked as Carl scanned the streets for time travel residue. He shook his head.

"No." His luminous blue eyes lit up the buildings in front of us. I glanced down at the ground, which looked far away from Carl's shoulders. He stretched his super-extended leg out again, taking another gigantic step.

"Hold on, I've got some! It's coming from the orphanage!" He turned toward the crumbling orphanage and crouched against the wall beside the roof. We watched in silence as the Bowler Hat Guy, towing a wagon, burst through the door with the hat trailing behind. Lewis followed, bound in rope.

I nudged Carl. "Act like a pigeon."

"A pigeon? Are you nuts?"

"Just do it!" I started cooing, and sure enough, Lewis glanced over. I grinned at him and he smiled back. When the Bowler Hat Guy turned his back, he put his knee on the wagon and pushed off the ground, sending himself and the Memory Scanner off the side of the building. Carl caught him, and deftly switched the box to his other hand as the Bowler Hat Guy glared furiously at us.

"Well I hate to spoil your evil plans and run but ta-ta!" Carl quipped, walking away.

"I bet you're glad to see me!" I said, pulling the rope off of Lewis. He punched my arm.

"Oww!" I exclaimed. That actually hurt.

"That's for leaving the garage door unlocked!" he scolded.

I chuckled nervously. "You know about that?"

"I know everything." For a minute I was afraid he was still mad at me, until he smiled.

"You've got to admit, this will be a great story to tell me someday." I saw that we were nearing my house.

"There it is boys, we're almost home free!" Carl said.

I grinned and drummed my fingers on Carl's head. Suddenly something pierced through his chest, and he started to spark out. He crashed to the ground, and we fell off of him. I jumped up and checked Carl. He jolted and sparked as he began to short out.

"Oh, no!" I panicked as I watched Carl's life disappear. His eyes flickered before they went out. I spun around angrily to face the Bowler Hat Guy.

"Take a good look around, boys, because your future's about to change." He laughed maniacally as he flew off with the Memory Scanner. I looked at Lewis.

"Lewis, you have to fix the time machine!" I urged.

"I-I-I can't!" he spluttered. "What about your dad? You could call him!"

"You are my dad!"

"But that's in the future!"

"There isn't going to be a future unless you fix the time machine!" I countered. "Look, I messed up. I left the garage unlocked and I've tried like crazy to fix things. But now it's up to you." Lewis was at loss for words. "You can do it dad!" I said reassuringly. I began to fade away. I felt like I was turning into mist, swirling away. "Lewis? Lewis!" I screamed, whirling into a vortex. I was detached from myself, yet together, apart but whole, real yet missing. I was nothing, but at the same time was something. I couldn't see, hear, taste, smell or touch, but I could still sense. I was nowhere, yet somewhere. I had no feeling of time, or self, or pain. I could have been there a second, or an hour, or a year, or for eternity, I don't know but suddenly I was rushing back into my body. _Was that hell?_ I wondered. _An out of body experience?_ _Or something worse? _I only knew one thing.

"You did, it Lewis, you did it!" I smiled, prepared to face him, but I saw something behind his super-straight hair. It was the Bowler Hat Guy!

I gave a yell, and rushed towards him. I kicked him in the stomach, and twisted his arm around to hold him.

"I'll hold him while you run for help!" I cried out to Lewis. I felt him dragging me off.

I strained against his arms, struggling to take down the guy who had caused so much problems.

"What are you doing? He's the bad guy!" I demanded, kicked and squirming.

"No, he's not. He's my roommate." Lewis said calmly.

I ripped free. "What?"

He tugged me into a huddle. "He's my old roommate and I really think you guys should adopt him." he said quietly.

"What? No!" I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Give me one good reason why-" I cut him off.

"I'll give you three good reasons! He stole our time machine, tried to ruin your future, and he smells like he hasn't showered in thirty years!" Lewis grabbed my ear.

"May I remind you, I am you father, and you have to do what I say!" I huffed. Lewis was not going to be fun anymore if he was going to u se the Dad thing against me.

"Ok, Mr. Yagoobian, do you want to be a Robins- where'd he go?" The black-clad man was nowhere to be seen.

"Goob!" Lewis cried out. "Goob." he said regretfully. Bending over, he picked up a unicorn binder. After staring at it for a moment, he turned and followed me inside.


	6. Confrontation

I stood back a little as my family swarmed Lewis, asked endless questions.

"I feel fine. In fact, better than I've felt in a long time." Lewis grinned at my mom.

"Franny, they're gone! Oh, this is terrible!" I cringed when I heard my dad yelling from inside the garage.

"Oh, boy." My mom glanced at the door.

"Well, he's home early." Grandpa Bud looked at his watch.

"Franny, where are you? The time machines are **gone**!" I cringed as he flung the door open and it slammed behind him. He caught sight of Lewis and grinned awkwardly. "Oh." They waved at each other. My dad gave my mom a questioning look. I knew I was dead. I tried to sneak away silently under the cover of the group of people, but everyone suddenly stepped aside. My mom grabbed my arm and yanked my forward. She pointed at me and my dad just nodded. He glared at me as if to say _I'll deal with you later. _

But I knew I couldn't go down without saying something. "Ratted out by the old lady. Harsh." I sighed and didn't meet my dad's gaze.

I carefully backed the time machine out of the garage as Lewis was talking to Carl. I could feel my dad watching me as I turned it around. I glanced over at Lewis, who was now talking to my grandparents.

"Time travel now, questions later!" I shouted, urging him over. He started to obey, but my mom stopped him. I rolled my eyes and honked the horn impatiently.

"Alright, I'm coming." Lewis clambered into the backseat of the time machine.

"Well it's not like you're never going to see them again. They are your family after all." I reasoned, starting the time machine.

"Yeah," he smiled and fastened his seatbelt.

We took off and he waved to everyone down below. When the bubble popped he looked confusedly out at the dark, rainy sky.

"Wait a minute; you're supposed to take me back to the science fair." He said, turning to face me.

"I know." I sighed.

We landed outside the sixth street orphanage, 1995. As I flicked on the invisibility, Lewis commented, "Well I think you punched in the wrong numbers."

"We agreed, if you fixed the time machine, I would take you back to see your mom."

I bit my lip as he jumped up a looked around wildly. "What?"

I opened the hatch and spun my chair around. "A deal's a deal."

I watched as he walked behind the shrouded woman, stepping gently on the wet sidewalk. As Lewis crept behind his mother, I was hit with a jolting thought.

I wouldn't exist if she kept him.

Fearfully, I stared at Lewis as he reached out to his mother. I took a deep breath, preparing for the dreadful sensation of disappearing from time. This time though, would I go back to that place, or was that just for temporary alterations? The voice whispered a question at me.

_Is it worse to die, or never exist?_

I gulped. "That is an excellent question." A terrifying one as well.

Lewis stopped, and withdrew his hand. He looked at it painfully before backing away slowly. His foot slipped and he hid as the woman turned around. I breathed a sigh of relief when she turned and walked down the dark street. Lewis walked back up the steps to look at the infant lying in the box. He knocked on the door and ran to the time machine. We watched as a woman in a housecoat came out and took the blond baby inside. I started the engine and we flew off, back to the disastrous science fair. We emerged out of the sunny sky and parked on the roof of the orphanage. I hopped out of the time machine, turning to face my preteen father as he hefted the Memory Scanner out of the time machine.

"I don't get it. Why'd you just let her go?" I asked.

Lewis looked at me thoughtfully. "Because…I already have a family."

I was taken aback by this, suddenly filled with so much emotion. He smiled warmly, and rushed forward to embrace me. I was stunned for a minute, then tightly returned the hug. I could hardly remember the last time I had bee this close to my dad.

"I never thought my dad would be my best friend." I said over his shoulder. He smiled and we broke apart. I pulled the Memory Scanner plans, which I had taped back together, out of my pocket. "Now don't make me come and bail you out again." I joked. "Remember, I have a time machine, and I'll just keep coming back until you get it right!" Lewis laughed, and turned towards the door. "You got that motto?" I called.

He tapped his head. "Got it."

"Good, don't forget it." I jumped back into the time machine.

"I don't think that's possible." He said, opening the door. "

"You better get going." I told him, starting the time machine.

"See ya later, Wilbur." he said as I flew up into the sky.

An idea popped into my head. I zoomed around, hoping it would work. I honked the horn, and he looked up at the sky. I had (hopefully) spelled out "See ya later Dad" in the exhaust. I saw him smile right before I popped back to 2037.

I quietly parked the time machine in the garage and snuck up to my room. I tiptoed and slithered down the hall, avoiding detection. (Although Buster may have seen me once.) I quickly slid into my room and locked the door behind me. Sighing in relief, I flicked on my light. A figure appeared out of the darkness. I jumped at the sight of my dad sitting on my bed.

"We need to talk."

I cringed. "Hey, Dad, you know this really isn't the best time, cause, I…" I glanced around, fumbling for an excuse. "I have a lot of homework."

"Mmm-hmm. Sit down, Wilbur." He had his arms crossed, and he did not look at all happy to see me.

I gulped and obeyed. Sitting down tensely, I avoided his eyes.

"Wilbur?" he said sternly. "Look at me."

I shifted uneasily in my desk chair. "Am I really grounded till I die?"

He looked at me seriously. "No. But you are in a lot of trouble."

I sighed. "I kind of figured that."

"Why didn't you just tell me you left the garage open?" he asked.

"Because I thought you would be angry…" I said quietly.

"I might have been a little mad because you didn't listen to your mother, but I could have called the TCTF and all of this could have been avoided."

I was extremely surprised to learn there really was a TCTF.

"Wilbur, you could have told me. I wouldn't hate you."

"Yeah, sure." I mumbled to myself.

"What?" he asked, shocked.

"Nothing, never mind." I said, turning away angrily.

"Wilbur, how could you think that? I know I'm busy a lot but-"

"A lot? _Try all the time!_ " I shouted, standing up and finally facing him. His bright blue eyes widened as I started to yell at him.

"Now wait a minute, that's not true-" he began, but I cut him off.

"No, it is true. Ever since that time machine, you haven't spent any time with m- your family." I hastily corrected.

"You really feel that way? Like I don't pay any attention to you?" he moved closer to me.

"Yeah, and when you do, you're just trying to make me like you! I'm not an inventor, Dad! I get a B in science and you look at me like I'm the biggest disappointment in your life!"

My dad stared at me, hurt. "Wilbur, how could you think that? What would ever make you think that I hate you?"

"Well, nothing I do is good enough for you! I try so _hard! _You don't even **love** me!" I shrieked.

"Wilbur!" he said, his voice raised. "I love you more than anything! Whatever you do, whether good or bad, I still will." I stared at him as he said this, a lump coming back into my throat.

"You could have lost both time machines, and the only thing I would care about is if you were going to disappear at any moment! Why can't you see that?" He lowered his voice, staring me straight in the eye. I felt my eyes fill with tears, threatening to spill over. I tried to hold them back, because the last thing I wanted to do is cry in front of my dad.

"Wilbur, you're my son. That's the best thing anyone could ever do." he said, putting his arms around me. I couldn't help it. The tears came rushing out with a wail as I started to sob on his lab coat. I just let all the stress and tension from the past few days -heck, the past few years- go, and all through it my dad held my close, making me feel all the better.

Eventually the tears gave way to exhaustion, and I pulled out from my dads arms, slipping into bed. He pulled the covers over me and turned out the light. Before I fell asleep, I finally realized who had pulled the covers over me last night. Smiling into my pillow, I dreamed peacefully of meatballs and dinosaurs.

~THE END~

A/N: There you go. The end of my first MTR fanfic. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited. It always makes me glad to know my work is appreciated. Oh, and before I go, one more thing:

Keep Moving Forward!!!


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